A Brave New World
by Somewhere In the Clouds
Summary: Daemon AU in which Konoha fell 15 years ago, the shinobi clans are scattered, fighting amongst one another, and the elemental countries have regressed back to their feudal states. Naruto has grown ignorant of the world, hidden away by his family. Sasuke lives amongst his ruthless, squabbling clan. Sakura grows up a foreigner, knowing only of shinobi from her books.
1. A Place Called Home

**A/N:** This is a daemon AU fic. I'd rather not overload this Author's Note with a long explanation of daemons and how they work so if you aren't familiar with them and are curious I'm sure Google will tell you all you need to know. Bear in mind that this isn't just transplanting daemons into the Naruto universe but this is also an AU in its own right. History took a different turn before Naruto was born and thus the world you're familiar with will be very different from the norm, daemons aside. I've been working on and dreaming up this fic for several years so I thought it high time I give the thing a go. I hope you enjoy it.

**Edit: **If you're re-reading this and wondering why this doesn't look at all like what was there before, I actually rewrote Chapter 1 to better fit the coming plot. I think this fits the story much better than the previous version. Don't worry, you'll see what I mean...

**A Brave New World**

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." - _Aristotle_

**01\. A Place Called Home**

Once, when he was eight, Naruto had found a map of the world.

There were a multitude of derelict, empty buildings strewn throughout Uzu Isle, so of course Naruto and Efrosyni had spent much of their childhood exploring every last one. There were treasures and secrets to be found in those places and they gathered them up greedily like the magpies that loitered around their home. There had been other people here once who had lived in these places and walked these streets, but for one reason or another they had gone and Naruto could only guess at the kinds of people who had come before by their now crumbling infrastructure and abandoned possessions.

And thus, in his wanderings, Naruto came across a door he could not open. This didn't stop the boy however, such things rarely did. Though he may have inherited his father looks, it was his mother's stubbornness which defined him. So the next day, he and his daemon arrived once more, though this time they had come prepared with a heavy, bent piece of iron he had filched from one of the buildings across the street. After a few minutes, Naruto and Efrosyni broke the lock and were rewarded with a loud creak as the door swung open.

The mysterious room turned out to be much smaller (and far more unremarkable) than they had guessed, barely more of an oversized closet really. A very cramped oversized closet. There was a desk, a few chairs, and several large metal filing cabinets all squeezed inside with barely any space in between them all to move freely, even by someone as small and skinny as Naruto. He almost would've just left the room behind then in search of someplace more interesting if it hadn't been for Efrosyni jumping onto the desktop. With a sigh, he squeezed inside and looked down at the paperwork strewn across the desk.

Both boy and daemon had learned to read several years before, but much of the things spoken of on those papers were dry and uninteresting and Naruto huffed petulantly as Efrosyni, a crow now, scanned the pages of a notebook curiously.

"This is boring," Naruto announced. "There's nothing here."

His daemon gave him an annoyed look and clicked her beak. "There's _plenty_ here."

He was just about to say 'not really' but stopped when he caught sight of the large map behind her. It was old, yellowed and curling at the edges, but it was the biggest map he'd ever seen. Naruto maneuvered himself around the desk and stepped up on the chair to get a better look. It wasn't just a map of Uzu Isle or the rest of the _Land of Water_ as he'd found on the walls of old school buildings or government offices, but a map of, from what he could only assume, the _entire_ world. Certainly more of the world than _he_ had ever known there was. Delicately, Naruto traced the lines between a place called the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.

"That can't be right," Efrosyni had fluttered onto his shoulder for a better look. "Uncle Kakashi and Grandpa Jiraiya talk about the Land of Lightning, but they've _never_ said there was a Land of _Fire_."

Naruto frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. They only ever talk about the Land of Lightning and the Land of _Earth_, not Fire."

"Just those _two_? Because there's a Land of Wind on here too, and a whole bunch of other countries it looks like…" He traced over the Land of Rivers and then back over the Land of Fire. Right in the middle there was a big black dot with the name Konoha next to it. His finger stopped, hovering over the name. Boy and daemon went silent.

And then, "Dad talks about Konoha…with Grandpa Jiraiya."

Naruto stared at the black dot and wondered.

* * *

He waited until his mother had gone to bed before he posed his question to his father. They sat on the porch, side by side, waiting for the heat to die down and the stars to come out. His father's daemon, a slim spotted cat larger than a hound, lounged in the grass at Minato's feet, soaking up the last rays of sunshine.

"What's Konoha?"

Naruto wasn't sure how he had expected his father to react but it certainly wasn't the deep sigh the man let out in response. It was a long sigh. A heavy sigh. As if he had been waiting for such a question for a _very_ long time. He ran his fingers through his daemon's short fur and the creature blinked up at him with large yellow eyes. For a while neither spoke and there was only the drone of cicadas and the crash of the waves at the bottom of the hill.

Finally, "I think I would've preferred if you'd asked me how babies are made."

Naruto made a face.

"I _know_ how babies are made!" It was hard _not_ to know living amongst the various wildlife on the island.

Minato laughed, scrubbing his hand over his face. "Yes. I suppose you _do_, don't you?"

Naruto waited. He didn't dare ask the question again for fear of his father brushing him off or changing the subject completely. Minato sighed again, long and drawn out and sad. He didn't look at his son.

"I was born there. It's where your Grandpa Jiraiya and your Uncle Kakashi were born too. It was our home." His father began. He sounded a thousand years old. Tired and worn and crumbling at the edges like the map he had discovered in that office. "It was a village. A very big village where all of my precious people lived. And then, the war came and the village was destroyed. After that your mother and I found this place and we had you and Izumi."

Naruto was quiet, his mind processing. Suddenly, a horrible thought entered his mind. "Those…the people who you had a war with. Were they…were they the ones who…who did _that_…to mom?" His voice grew quieter as he said each word until the last few came out as barely more than a whisper.

His mother was not like he and his father. He had Efrosyni and his little sister had troublesome little Melqart and his father had Austeja. But his mother…

She was alone.

Minato stirred, the very mention of his wife drawing him out of his melancholy and straightening his spine.

"No. That was…someone else."

"Who? Why? Why would someone do that?" The words tumbled out of mouth before he could stop them. Efrosyni sat in his lap, her ears perked. His father had never elaborated upon his mother's _condition_ before, only saying that a monster had eaten Illtyd.

His father finally glanced down at his son then. His face was hard and unflinching. His voice was like steel. "Someday Naruto, I will tell you. But not tonight." He turned away. "Now go to bed."

Naruto and Efrosyni fled.

* * *

**A/N:** Poor Kushina. She's had a rough life.

**Naruto** (8) - _Efrosyni_ (unsettled)

**Minato** (34) - _Austeja_ (cheetah)

**Kushina** (32) - _Illtyd _(none/snub-nosed monkey)

**Izumi** (3) - _Melqart _(unsettled)


	2. The Caged Boy

**A/N:** If you're re-reading this and wondering why this doesn't look at all like what was there before, I actually rewrote Chapter 2 to better fit the coming plot. I think this fits the story much better than the previous version. Don't worry, you'll see what I mean...

**A Brave New World**

"Going to prison is like dying with your eyes open." - _Bernard Kerik_

**02\. The Caged Boy**

He knew long before they reached Hadar that he was going to hate this place. Everything was too _green_. Too _bright_. Everywhere he looked the green jungle draped over or invaded everything it touched. _Like a fungus_, Sasuke thought uncharitably. If he squinted hard enough he could just make out the tropical landscape creeping over the city walls. Unfortunately, it was even worse once they entered the city limits. Once he and his sisters crossed through the gates, Sasuke was met with an onslaught of foreign smell from the spice market.

Ksenija wrinkled her nose distastefully and quickly became an insect so as to lose her sense of smell altogether.

Oblivious to their brother's foul mood, Sasuke's sisters marveled over the sights and sounds of their new home, which was a far cry from the quiet, well-ordered Uchiha fortress they had left. Then again, Sasuke thought darkly, they were too young to understand why they had been brought here in the first place.

After all, it was difficult to love your new cage, no matter how novel or gilded it might be.

The city passed in a blur of color as he and the twins were marched forward through the streets, ignoring the pushy calls of the vendors and the curious glances of the garishly dressed locals, right into the heart of the city where they came to a halt at two imposing iron doors set deep into an even more imposing stone wall. Their minders, three fierce Uchiha with vigilant raptors for daemons, grunted some foreign words to the guards at the doors. One of them grunted something back and thrust out his hand expectantly, his golden wildcat daemon prowling forward with interest. Curious, Mitsuko and Misaki's daemons attempted to imitate the guard's daemon with varying degrees of success.

"Stop that." Sasuke warned with a frown, glancing up at the disapproving faces of their minders. In a flash, Ksenija took the shape of a tiger, the same shape as their father's daemon, Nadezhda, and cowed the two smaller cats back into place. The girls pouted, but said nothing.

Ignoring his charges, Shuichi Uchiha reached into the holster at his waist and drew out a crumpled set of papers and a glittering golden token under the piercing gaze of the massive eagle at his shoulder. Silently, he passed them into the outstretched hand of the waiting guard and shifted his weight to better accommodate the hulking mass of his daemon.

Several moments passed as the guard flipped through the papers leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world. Though none of their guardians had moved an inch Sasuke could see their irritation with the man plainly in the shuffling, clenching talons and clicking beaks of their daemons. Finally, he rasped a few strange words to the other men and then shouted upwards. Sounds of activity began at the top of the wall and on the other side of the door and then, with a great deal of loud grinding and squealing, the door swung open.

Sasuke felt a hand plant itself between his shoulder blades and firmly push him forward. He had to stop himself from stumbling. He twisted his neck around to glare at Tetsuo. Ksenija let out an irritable growl. The man and his kite daemon stared back unflinchingly. He gave Sasuke another firm push.

"Go."

Sasuke stared back up at the cold gray double doors, opened wide like the maw of some great beast. He looked back down at his sisters on either side of him, as awed as he was, though for very different reasons. Carefully, tenderly, he took hold of each of their hands and they walked into their prison

He tried hard not to flinch as he heard the doors bang shut behind him as the beast swallowed them whole.

* * *

**A/N:** Worried yet? You should be.

**Sasuke** (12) - _Ksenija_ (unsettled)

**Mitsuko** (4) - _Hashim_ (unsettled)

**Misaki** (4) - _Khayrat_ (unsettled)

**Fugaku** (45) - _Nadezhda_ (bengal tiger)

**Shuichi **(32) - _Basira_ (harpy eagle)

**Tetsuo **(24) - _Azra_ (mississippi kite)


	3. A Stranger in a Strange Land

**A/N:** This is so unbetaed man. Forgive me.

**A Brave New World**

"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time." - _Rabindranath Tagore_

**03\. A Stranger in a Strange Land**

Najmahrian summers were as hot as they were humid and Sakura was right in the thick of it living in the capital. She didn't mind so much, though her father was another matter entirely. Kenji hadn't grown up in Hadar as his daughter had and so was still quite unused to the country's sticky climate. Usually Sakura's father just hid himself away in their musty bookshop until winter came around again.

Sakura loved Hadar.

The Najmahrian capital city lay in the heart of the island kingdom, surrounded by wet jungle and towering mountains. At night, when her father closed up his shop, Sakura would wander with Nicodemus through the old winding streets of the city, streets so old she could see wagon-tracks borne into the cobblestones. Ancient temples lined the paths alongside apartment buildings and lush gardens, a queer mishmash of old and new. Sometimes Sakura would visit the market, just down the street from her house, just to catch the smells of spices and the hear the mixed chattering of Najmahrian and the Common Tongue and smatterings of completely new languages all together.

Mostly though, she stayed in her father's shop and read.

All she knew of the world came from her books. And Sakura wanted to know _everything_. From dusty tomes on Najmahrian history to crisp new medical texts to fantastic tales from distant lands, Sakura and Nicodemus consumed them all with the voraciousness of the starved. Over the years Kenji only continued to feed his daughter's vast appetite for knowledge, despite the fact that it was odd for a girl-child to be so learned in Najmah, let alone know how to read _at all_.

Sakura may have worn the customary headscarf as all Najmahrian women did and spoke their language as fluently as one who had been born there, but she was _not_ a Najmahrian. Her pale skin and pink hair were evidence enough of that fact. But Sakura cared little for what other's thought she _should_ be. She had no mother to emulate, only the mournful rememberings from her sorrowful father. 'Saki' and 'Konoha' was nothing but words to her. Still, she often wondered what her life would've been like if she's grown amongst her father's people. Amongst _shinobi_, those almost mythical warriors from her books, capable of near impossible fetes.

There were no shinobi in Najmah though. Their's was a kingdom built on wealth and trade, far from the squabbling mainland. The King of Najmah had no need of shinobi. He had an army of course, but it saw little use, his country instead preferring to settle its disputes peacefully (along with the promise of gold and trade sanctions of course). And so Sakura settled for reading about her father's mysterious people from her books.

But then, one day, Sakura met one.

* * *

Sakura had never been a particularly religious girl. Her books and her father's distinctly atheistic leanings left her suspicious of most religious ideologies. Still, she and her daemon loved Hadar's grand temples and colorful holidays. And so it was on one such holiday, a day devoted to the worship of the local trickster god which encouraged rowdy behavior and copious amounts of alcohol, that Sakura found herself climbing the steps to one of the local temples. Unlike its more important cousins, this temple stood on a high hill at the edge of the city, hidden from sight by the green foliage of the jungle. It was a quiet and peaceful place and therefore Sakura's favorite.

Nicodemus flew ahead of her as a white starling and she struggled to keep up even as her skirts tangled with her feet. She was _so_ caught up with keeping her skirts free of her legs in fact, that she almost didn't notice Nicodemus's chirped warning.

Almost.

A man stood several stairs up from her. He was tall and dark-haired and his strange clothing staunchly marked him as a foreigner. His panther daemon stood close to his side, eyeing Sakura with fierce yellow eyes.

"I am sorry," the stranger said in thickly accented Najmahrian. "I assumed everyone was down in the streets for the festival."

"They _are_," Sakura replied, Najmahrian flowing from her lips far more gracefully. Nicodemus changed into a spider monkey and swung onto her shoulder.

"But you are not?" the man assessed her with his dark eyes, a curious tilt to his head.

"No," Sakura shook her head. And then, before she could stop herself, she blurted, "You're _not_ a Najmahrian."

The man face didn't alter and yet for some reason Sakura though he looked amused. "Neither are you."

Sakura scoffed. "Of _course_ I am!" Nicodemus's fur fluffed in an irritated fashion.

"As you say," the man nodded.

"Well your Najmahrian is terrible!" Sakura snapped childishly.

The man laughed. "Yes, I imagine it is," he replied in the Common Tongue. Sakura suddenly felt very chastened though she couldn't say why.

"I'm sorry," she said, switching to her father's native tongue.

"Ah," the man smiled, impressed. "And here I thought you were a Najmahrian? And yet you speak the Common Tongue?"

"My father taught me," Sakura replied in way of explanation.

"And who is he?"

"Kenji Haruno, of Konoha!" Sakura boasted happily.

The man's eyes flashed with interest and his daemon took a step forward…but then her ears twitched and she swung her head around to stare off into the jungle. The man glanced off in the same direction and than turned back to Sakura.

"Well it was pleasure meeting you, daughter of Kenji Haruno," he said quickly before he slipped past her gracefully, moving down the steep steps hurriedly. His daemon followed like a wraith-like shadow and Sakura and Nicodemus watched them both go until they disappeared behind the foliage.

"What a strange man," Sakura declared, resuming her climb up the temple steps.

"And dangerous," agreed Nicodemus, clinging to her headscarf. "Did you see his daemon?"

"Of _course_ I saw his daemon!" She glanced behind her again, as if the black panther daemon were still standing just behind her.

"Only warriors have great cats as daemons," Nicodemus reminded her, strangely quiet. He was right of course. Only savage, powerful people's daemons settled as big cats or wolves or raptors and the like. Her father, ever a peaceful, learned man had a plain, ordinary duck for a daemon. She was told her mother's had been a dove, before she'd been killed. Sakura wondered what a man with such a ferocious daemon was doing in such a peaceful city.

Later, when she had reached the top of the hill and stood before the temple, Sakura realized that she'd never learned the strange man's name.

* * *

**A/N:** I don't think I quite caught Itachi's personality as well as I would've liked in this chapter. My excuse is that this is an AU and so he's turned out differently than if he'd murdered his family and joined a criminal organization. Now what is he doing in Sakura's hometown? There is an answer to that but it shall be discussed in greater detail elsewhere. Anyway, if you've got any thoughts, concerns, or just plain want to tell me how much you hate this story (though please give me real reasons and not just 'I hate you, you suck'), please let me know!

Character's ages and daemons:

**Kenji** (38) - **Arihel** (duck)

**Saki** (deceased) - **Symeon** (dove)

**Sakura** (12) - **Nicodemus** (unsettled)


	4. Meetings Between Friends

**A/N:** If you're re-reading this and wondering why this doesn't look at all like what was there before, I actually rewrote Chapter 4 to better fit the coming plot. I think this fits the story much better than the previous version. Don't worry, you'll see what I mean…

Very unbetaed. Sorrynotsorry.

**A Brave New World**

"Family is the most important thing in the world.." - _Princess Diana_

**04\. Meetings Between Friends**

A bobcat was laying in the sand when he and Izumi finally swam ashore. She purred, her golden eyes semi-closed, as she soaked up the last few rays of sunshine before the sun sank fully beneath the horizon. It was Izumi who recognized her before Naruto did.

"Uncle Kakashi is here!" she cried, delighted. Melqart shifted into a hummingbird and flitted around Aseneth's head, bombarding her with questions. The daemon flicked her ears a few times but otherwise didn't seem to mind the attention.

An odd look crossed Naruto's face. He turned to his sister. "Go on Izumi. Uncle Kakashi is probably waiting for us." The girl hardly needed encouragement and was off like a shot, Melqart chasing after her tangled wet hair as it flapped behind her. He turned back to the creature before him. She gazed up at him lazily. He imagined that if she had a tail, it would be twitching.

"Why are you here?"

Aseneth barely blinked. "To visit you of course." Her voice was throaty and sensual, so unlike the man she was bound to.

"But _why_?" Naruto clenched his fists. He didn't _hate_ Aseneth and he certainly didn't hate Kakashi but whenever his uncle appeared he and his father would disappear for hours. He didn't know what the two discussed behind closed doors, but what Naruto _did _know was that whenever Kakashi left and his father reappeared Minato's face bore even more lines that it had before. Whatever news Kakashi brought from beyond the island, it wasn't the uplifting kind.

As if to emphasize his point Efrosyni shifted into a baboon, red-faced and intimidating and clearly hoping to bully some answers out of the smaller daemon. However, Aseneth merely got to her feet, unconcerned and turned around to pad away in the direction that Izumi had gone. Naruto huffed in frustration, smart enough to know when he was being ignored and began to climb up the hill. He was almost to the top when he saw Kakashi's daemon turn back to look at him, an almost sad look on her face.

"We really _did_ come back to see you, you know."

Naruto watched her bound away then and felt strangely ashamed. Efrosyni climbed onto his shoulder as a squirrel and brushed her soft cheek against his.

"She's just being mean," his daemon insisted.

He stared after Aseneth's fading silhouette. "Is she?"

"No."

* * *

There was one more surprise waiting for them when they finally arrived home.

"Jeez brat, it took you long enough."

Naruto's head snapped up just as he was toeing off his shoes. A giant of a man towered over him and the glossy white bird at his side tilted her elegant neck to get a better look at the boy.

"Grandpa!" Naruto launched himself straight into the man's waiting arms.

"Hey kid, I've told you a thousand times, I'm not your grandpa." Jiraiya rumbled, the words more rote than serious. "But it's good to see you too."

"Hurry up Naruto, I'm hungry!" Izumi called from the kitchen.

Jiraiya pulled away and grinned. "Let's not keep the lady waiting."

"_Lady_?" Naruto scoffed, wandering towards the smell drifting down the hall. "I think your head wasn't screwed on straight. She's a little _savage_. Yesterday she caught a fish."

"I don't see your point."

"With her _teeth_."

Jiraiya beamed like a proud father just as the two ducked into the kitchen. "That's my girl!"

Izumi beamed back at him as they came into view, showing off several gaps in the teeth in question. 'Uncle' Kakashi lounged in the cushion opposite her, Aseneth grooming herself at his feet. He gave a half-wave as they entered and smiled at Naruto warmly.

"Yo."

Embarrassment heated his cheeks as Naruto recalled his earlier conversation with the man's daemon. Before he had time to let the feeling spread though, his father came into view bearing several steaming bowls. Austeja was nowhere in sight.

Naruto felt his heart sink.

"It's not the best but it's hot," Minato began as he placed the bowls on the worn tabletop. "And after the adventure I'm sure you had getting here I figure anything would be good."

Jiraiya scoffed as he took a seat at the table next to Izumi. "If you cooked it? Not a chance."

"After the energy it took just to use that jutsu of yours? I'm just glad there _is_ food." Kakashi sighed gratefully as he pulled a bowl close and inhaled.

"You know, for a genius you seem to have a lot of trouble with Hiraishin." Minato plopped into the seat next to his son and fixed his ex-student with an amused smile.

"Please, we can't _all_ be you." Jiraiya chuckled.

"Says the Sannin," murmured Kakashi sarcastically.

Naruto watched the three men bicker back and forth. They were all too cheery. Too careful. They didn't fool him. Ignoring their chatter, he stared at the blank space next to his father and then towards the dark hallway where his parent's bedroom lay.

"Today's a bad day, isn't it?" Though it was phrased as a question, it really wasn't once. The conversation at the table halted. Even Izumi paused in her messy slurping to glance up in surprise.

Minato looked down at his son. Here was a man who had stood against nations, who had taken on entire battalions single-handedly, and yet the mere implication of his wife's crumbling psyche was enough to break the carefully constructed calm he so normally wore like any other article of clothing.

"Leave her be Naruto."

Naruto glanced up at his father only for his eyes to flick back down again, suddenly interested in looking somewhere, _anywhere_, but the look on his father's face. "I'm not really hungry," he began even though his empty stomach disagreed. His voice was barely more than a whisper. "Can I go?"

There was a beat, and then, "You may."

He and Efrosyni fled the room. They didn't look back.

* * *

**A/N:** In this universe, only shinobi's daemons can travel long distances away from their humans. Hence why the kids aren't completely horrified by the sight of Kakashi's daemon all by her lonesome.

**Naruto** (12) - _Efrosyni_ (unsettled)

**Izumi** (7) - _Melqart _(unsettled)

**Kakashi** (26) - _Aseneth_ (bobcat)

**Jiraiya** (50) - _Sehrazat_ (swan)

**Minato** (38) - _Austeja_ (cheetah)

**Kushina** (36) - _Illtyd _(none/snub-nosed monkey)


	5. Homeward Bound

**A/N:** Hey there! Long time no post! And just because you've been so patient and so ridiculously generous with your wonderfully intelligent comments and reviews, here's a new chapter. And from the Inuzuka family this time! Sorry it's such a short and disjointed chapter. I worked on it sporadically through the week and I have a feeling it shows.

**A Brave New World**

"We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment." - _Hilaire Belloc_

**05\. Homeward Bound**

His mother was fierce. His sister was funny. And Kiba…Kiba was wild.

He had grown up without a 'proper' home. Without rules. Without structure. They were always moving, he and his family. Never staying in one place. _To keep ahead of the monsters_, his mother would tell him.

It had never occurred to him that those monsters might be other people.

He knew of shinobi of course. His mother was one. Or…she had been. Kiba had actually always been a bit unclear on that. But she could do things other people couldn't! Amazing things! She could make herself invisible! And smell disease! And she could walk up walls! And all of these things she had taught to her children.

_The better to survive with_, she would say.

And Kiba was very good at surviving.

* * *

Hana was beginning to feel more beast than human. She and her mother and brother would probably have no trouble fitting into one of the many tribes they'd encountered in the last several weeks.

She heaved an exhausted sigh and she glanced over at Baadur. He returned her look with his characteristic toothy grin. Surrounded by her family's unruly pack and led by dour Jáchym, Baadur stuck out like a laughing man at a funeral.

"Are we there yet?" he said cheekily. Hana rolled her eyes.

"You're worse than Kiba."

"Who's worse than me?" The subject in question came trotting up, Aybek close at his heels. She was a grey wolf today, like Jáchym, and little surprise. Kiba and his daemon idolized their mother. Hana wouldn't be surprised if Aybek actually settled as a wolf out of sheer will power.

"No one is worse than you," Hana teased.

"Hey!"

And so their day went.

And the next day.

And the day after.

And the day after that.

Hana began to lose count. How long had it been since they'd last left civilization? A month? Two? She'd lost track. The days had begun to blur together now. The landscape changed little. Every day they trudged across grassy wasteland under the beating sun and their nights were spent huddled together with only the stars for company.

And the stars! Even they were different here! And so many of them! She imagined the lack of artificial light and smog had something to do with it. The air was fresher here too. Cleaner. Less…heavy. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad living here.

Perhaps they would finally have a real home.

* * *

Jáchym was restless.

Tsume's eyes flicked to her daemon briefly before settling back upon the forms of her children. Hana and Kiba lay curled upon one another amongst the dogs. Jáchym paced around the trunk of a sparse tree. The only tree for miles.

"Stop that."

Her daemon leveled bright yellow eyes upon her. "We cannot stay."

"I know." She glanced back at her children.

This was uncharted territory for her. She'd seen rough maps of the lands bordering the Elemental Countries, but they were vague things whose detail waned the further one got from the borders. And now she and her family were far beyond the scope of those nebulous drawings. What little she knew of this place and those beyond was uncertain at best. There were stories of course, those she had learned as a child in Fire Country, and then those she'd picked up from various locales on her way south. Stories of places with strange creatures and even stranger people. Places where no shinobi had ever set foot.

_That's what I'm counting on._ Tsume thought, her nostrils flaring.

* * *

**A/N:** Tsume and her kids are currently in The Tribal Lands of the Libanga (see the map posted on my profile), far to the south of Earth Country and Buru (the setting of our last chapter).

Character's ages and daemons:

**Tsume** (36) - **Jáchym** (timber wolf)

**Hana** (18) - **Baadur** (hyena)

**Kiba** (12) - **Aybek** (unsettled)


	6. A Princess Locked in a Tower

**A/N:** A very, _very_ short one this time. Sorry. Life has been rather crazy lately. My aunt's body was found yesterday and…you could say it's been a rather repressing day. Still, I wanted to write _something_ to get my mind off things, so I unearthed what little I had written of this chapter and added on to it so I could post something and feel like I've _done_ something today.

**A Brave New World**

"Much as we may wish to make a new beginning, some part of us resists doing so as though we were making the first step toward disaster." - _William Throsby Bridges_

**06\. A Princess Locked in a Tower**

They were being so…nice to her.

And frankly, Hinata had no idea how she was supposed to feel about it. On one hand these people had kidnapped her from her home in the middle of the night and refused to take her back. On the other hand they were treating her with a lot more sympathy and attentiveness than her own family ever had. It was all so very confusing.

"Do you like cake Hinata?" Her caretaker (_watchdog_), Ami, asked her one afternoon. The woman herself was unremarkable in her appearance. She was pale and dark haired like Hinata herself, completely different from the characteristic dark skinned people of the region. It was her daemon however, that unnerved the girl. He was a mountain bird (as most daemons here seemed to be), with black and white feathers and a vicious looking red beak tipped in white that reminded Hinata of bone jutting from a wound.

"…Yes…" The girl murmured meekly, peeking at Ami's daemon out of the corner of her eye. He stared back at her with unblinking black eyes. Her fingers twitched around Sukhrab, curled in her lap as a hedgehog.

"Would you like some?"

She said she did. What else could she do but agree?

As they walked to the kitchens Hinata brought her fist to her collar bone, resting it against Sukhrab's cool scales as he draped himself around her neck as a snake. His tongue flicked against her temple where she knew the seal binding her Byakugan was. She had first seen it after realizing she was unable to use her dōjutsu to evaluate her surroundings her first day here. It was a tiny marking, situated on both temples, and almost unnoticeable under the cover of her bangs. There was a reason they were so willing to let her roam so (relatively) freely. It was exactly the same reason one was more willing to let a muzzled dog near people. No matter how many sweets or indulgences they lavished on her, or the freedoms they gave her, Hinata was no fool.

A prisoner was a still a prisoner, no matter how gilded the cage.

* * *

"Do you like children?"

It was such an odd question to ask, Hinata was entirely caught off guard.

"Ummm…yes?" It came out more as a question than an answer, but Ami seemed satisfied regardless.

"Would you like some of your own some day?"

"Ummm, well…I suppose…" Ami was staring at Sukhrab. He fluffed his feathers and scooted closer to Hinata's neck. Hinata didn't like the way she was looking at him.

"When do you think he'll settle?"

Hinata blushed furiously, unable to say anything. What was with all these questions? In the six months she'd been here Ami had never asked her such personal questions. Thankfully, the woman seemed to notice the girl's distress and let the matter lie…for the time being.

It was only the first time her Kumo 'caretakers' took an interest in her _maturation_…it was by no means the last.

* * *

**A/N:** Remember the Hyūga members captured by Kumo that were mentioned in chapter four? Yep. Hinata is one of them. And yes they are taking a creepy, stockholm syndrome approach to assimilating her into Kumo. They're also creepily checking periodically to see if she's reached puberty yet and have any interest in having lots and lots of white-eyed babies.

Character's ages and daemons:

**Hinata** (12) - **Sukhrab** (unsettled)

**Ami** (20) - **Lành** (mountain caracara)


End file.
